Improvement in preserving ferns, plants



UNITED STATES P'rE'r OFFICE.

HENRY M. LEE, OF LONDON, GREAT BRITAIN.

IMPROVEMEN'I IN PRESERVING FERNS, PLANTS, &c.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 166,995, dated August 24, 1875; application filed September 15, 1874.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HENRY M. LEE, of the city of London, Great Britain, decorative artist, have invented certain Improvements in the Method of Preserving Ferns, Plants, Grasses, 850., for which Letters Patent of Great Britain were granted on the 11th day of February, A. D. 1873, and numbered 493.

My invention relates to the preparation and preservation of ferns, lichens, arbor vitae, mosses, grasses, and all kinds of plants, as well as the numerous varieties of sea-weed, in such a manner that the same will resist the action of light and heat for an indefinite period after collection, and represent them in their natural state or living form and appearance.

My process consists, first, in bleaching the said ferns, plants, and grasses, either by exposure to the concentrated power of the suns rays, or by immersion in persulphate of soda, muriatic acid, acetic acid, or by discharging the color with bleaching-powder, as may be most suitable to their nature, fiber, .or substance. When the original colors are thus discharged from the above vegetable substance, the same are well washed in clear water and allowed to dry between sheets of blotting-paper. After having been thoroughly dried, they are pressed by ordinary mechanical means, and then painted with mineral or metallic paint, or otherwise dyed with Indian dyes, to represent their original colors or such hues as may be most desirable. When this stage of preparation has been reached, the said plants are arranged artistically between two pieces of plate or other glass, which are afterward hermetically sealed together. The groundwork upon which the plants, 8210., are placed may be of silk, cotton, linen, paper,

- varnish, paint, or other proper substance.

HENRY MICHAEL LEE.

Witnesses:

HENRY W. HAMMOND, PHILIP M. JUs'rIoE. 

